Husband, father, grandfather, garage proprietor, rally driver, and
proud possessor of bad taste in shirts, Jimmy Horne passed away earlier this
week after a long illness, borne with fortitude and good humour.
Although a quiet and private man, Jimmy was well known in Scottish rallying
circles. He founded Mill Garage in Duns in 1974 and it wasn't long before he
was running his own Mk1 Ford Escort in Scottish stage rallies.
He first showed up on the rallying radar in 1976 when he finished 9th
Challenger overall in 'The Scotsman Scottish Rally Championship' that year.
That pitched him into the 'senior' ranks for the following seasons. In 1978 he
finished 18th Driver overall in the 'British Airways/The Scotsman Scottish Rally
Championship' now driving a Mk2 Escort.
Appearances were intermittent, but he did enough events in 1980 to
finish 8th overall in the Driver's Championship. Finishing ahead of him that
year were Drew Gallacher, Ken Wood, Walter McDonald, Dom Buckley (Snr), Donald
Heggie, Ian Wilson and Vince Finlayson. That was the sort of company Jimmy was
mixing with. Serious stuff.
He was 18th overall in the 1981 Championship before looking ahead to 1982
which promised much but delivered little, although he did score his best ever
individual result in that season.
One of his favourite events, the Hackle Rally had snow in 1982. It
wasn't deep snow, but it was deeper in patches - usually out of sight around
corners! That helped those with underpowered cars and where skill counted more
than brute power. Jimmy Horne benefitted, although even he didn't escape Scot
free.
He was fighting with Kenny Stewart for 2nd place behind Ken Wood when
his sliding Escort struck a felled tree with its trunk sticking out at the edge
of the road. He hit it with such an impact that it pushed in the co-driver's
door, sill , floor and seat mountings with the result that Ashley Strachan was
sitting 10 inches closer to and slightly above Jimmy! Remarking on the apparent
'intimacy' of the pairing a certain reporter suggested: "We'll need to
throw a bucket of water over that pair of lovebirds before the day is out".
The reward was 2nd overall and possibly Jimmy and Ashley's best Scottish Rally
Championship single result.
Jimmy's own rallying took more of a back seat after that as his sons
Stephen and Michael were fast growing up. Three years older than Michael, Stephen
was a talented footballer and played in the Edinburgh Junior leagues which
necessitated frequent trips to and from Duns to Edinburgh two or three times a
week.
Towards the end of the 1980s when Michael 'came of age', Jimmy helped
him buy his first rally car, a Talbot Sunbeam and Jimmy was back amongst folk
he knew in a sport which he relished. As Michael said, if it wasn't for Dad he
wouldn't have been able to go rallying. In 1994 when Michael won the Scottish
Rally Championship and became outright Scottish Champion, there was no-one
prouder than Jimmy.
Jimmy was one of those rare folk who thought first, before saying
anything or volunteering an opinion. On that basis, what he said had merit, whether
you agreed with him or not. That considered approach to commenting had another
side-effect as he could offer up a token of whimsy or a joke in such a serious
fashion that folk would initially take him seriously - till his face cracked
into a grin. Aye, he could be quite mischievous at times.
The world of Scottish rallying has lost a good pal, but his wife Margaret,
sons Stephen and Michael and grandchildren, Abigail and Rebecca, and Chloe and
Liam, have lost so much more. Our thoughts must be with them at this sad time.
Funeral details: Friday 14th June, 12.15 at Duns
Parish Church, Church Square, Duns TD11 3DD and later at 1pm at Duns
Cemetery.
Note: A more
detailed tribute has been published in the on-line magazine at:
No comments:
Post a Comment